DUCATI MONSTER 1100 (2011 - 2013) Review

Version: 1100 Evo

Year: 2011

Annual servicing cost: £309

Styling

Buying experience: Private £6k

Version: Evo

Year: 2011

Annual servicing cost: £500

Sounds great on over-run and good handling. Worst feature is the ugly headlight

Believe it or not I traded an 1198 in for my monster 1100 evo. I wanted to get away from the sports bike madness and the couple of hours niche riding and the remaining time a nightmare run that you get from running a full on supersports bike. I want to enjoy all parts of a run out on something that gives me a buzz at less than 3 figure speeds. Well, the Monster delivers,being a naked, 80mph feels like 100mph and every part of a ride is now enjoyable. The air cooled twin motor is a peach, as it says in the test, you just ride along on a wave of torque with a big grin on your face. Riding this Duke is like a breath of fresh air, loving it. To look at the monster is sexy from every angle (Ducati don't do ugly), sounds great (termi's would make the music even better, start saving), goes and handles a treat. As mentioned by someone before, this bikes a keeper.

Bought the Rossi trim 796 in June - spunkiest looking bike ever made. Had a 600 Pantah before and you can really see 30 years of tech advancement - and it's 40kg. lighter than the Pantah. Even people that know nothing about bikes comment on it. Ridden 700 milesof pure joy. No complaints so far .

I've had my M1100evo for about 2 months now - first a bit on the bike. The bike is easy to ride & great fun. It corners beautifully, normally with excellent stability at serious lean angles. After a bit of experimentation the Marzocchi forks work excellently. I landed on reducing both compression & rebound by 1/4 turn, to make the forks more responsive, while increasing preload by 1 1/6 turn to prevent bottoming-out. The rear shock is OK, but not nearly as good; I find the spring a bit stiff for solo use (and I don't mean preload). The lack of responsiveness can make the bike wiggle a bit if you get some bumps in your corner. But that's a minor issue, all in all the bike behaves beautifully and is superbly flickable. Power delivery too is superb. Keep the bike above 3500 RPM (4500 if you're going for it), and you'll have a very smooth & usable power curve. That's not to say it's one of the fastest - but you shouldn't expect that from an air cooled 2V. Its torque is good though, and combined with its excellent handling it makes for a great ride on twisty b-roads. And the Brembo's provide excellent braking. Other than the stiff rear spring, there are a few negatives, but they're all quite minor: - I prefer my clutch lever much deeper down, but you can't drop it in the standard set-up, because the mirror is on the same clamp. Is of course not too difficult to modify. - The brake oil pot vibrates quite a bit (again easily fixed). - I had mine too stall 2-3 times. And it missed a gear twice (false neutral). But all of these only happened in the first 500 miles, and none of this happened in the last 6 weeks. So overall: very happy riding this bike. While I'm pretty pleased with the bike, that doesn't mean I'm happy with Ducati. I feel seriously misled by that company. The bike was introduced as a bike of 169 kg dry, producing 100 HP - and that's just not true, neither of those figures. It weighs 175 kg dry, in a normal sense (like, for instance KTM uses), the difference being 3 kg oil and 3 kg battery. And it produces just 95 HP (70 kW). These are the official numbers from the EC Certificate of Conformity, for the 2011 Monster 1100evo, and the Direttore di stabilimento signed for them. If these numbers from the CoC are not true, the vehicle registration is invalid, and you run the risk of not being insured in case of an accident. So those numbers must be true, and I feel misled. If you're considering to buy one - please be advised.

I just got my 1100 eve for a couple of weeks, and what joy and fun this has brought me. Agreed with previous reviewer, it's like having your own roller coaster ride every time you swing your leg over. To top it off, it's beautiful to look at, and the engine is music to the soul. Tremendously satisfying. I got quite a few friendly from kids and strangers which i have never gotten while riding my VTR-1000, which was a lot faster and smoother, but not as exciting. The only low was engine sudden cut off 2-3 times during first few hundreds miles. This is a keeper 5/5.

I don't think the person who reviewed this bike before me 'got' what the Monster is all about. It is more than just "okay" - read what all the experienced bike journos have to say about it as well. At the time of test riding the Monster, I was the owner of a ZZR1400 "rocketship", and the ZZR has now made way for the Monster, which in my opinion was going to take A LOT. ~200 bhp down to ~100 bhp - crazy you might say, but the L-twin is a gem in the way it makes its power (just keep it between 4.5-7.5k rpm). The monster may not have the top speed of the ZZR (although it'll do a genuine 130+ mph), but it was ferociously fast thanks to the torque to weight ratio, and probably much faster on twisty roads than I'd dare ride my ZZR at. I didn't have any problems with heat from the engine, the gearbox was no better/worse than the 10+ Japanese bikes I've owned, and yes it is ‘lumpy’ at town speeds (under 4k rpm), but it is a air-cooled L-twin, what do you expect? You can’t call me biased because I’d gotten off a ZZR which was super smooth even at speeds that will land you in jail, but you need to judge the Monster for what it is – not for what you want it to be. It exudes more character than any Japanese bike I've owned – it looks great (high quality components), sounds fantastic, and goes like a rocket. Only two negatives I can think of: 1) small fuel tank; 2) no fuel gauge. I also test rode a 2011 Speed Triple before I test rode the Monster, and even though the Speed was a brilliant bike (and it really is!), biking for me is about ‘fun’, and the Speed was just a little more ‘civilised and safe’, whereas the Monster was like being on a theme park ride at the twist of the throttle. I’ll have a black one to go please…

Had a blast on the Ducati monster 1100evo, Its okay nothing special. But I did get off a Kawasaki 08 ZX10R was the same price at the time I brought it. So comparing it to this bike its average so not bad for a naked. Niggles are when at traffic lights your right leg begins to melt and finding neutral is terrible, by the time I had the bike in neutral the lights turned green this happened at every set, vibration at town speed, throttle can be a bit jerky (town), acceleration not as good as mine, I thought twins were meant to have good low and mid range grunt, owe well and you don’t get a tank of petrol when you buy, boo hiss. Dealers excuse, we have to show you the petrol light works, yeah right. Good points the ABS and DTC well done Ducati, easy to ride, light weight, brakes well, feels stable in corners, comfortable and nice seat height. This review might seem harsh but when your dropping that kind of wedge you have to be. + I still might get one, I have to try a few more naked bikes first. Z1000 etc. Ducati Monster 1100evo £9125 otr.